S.Korea KAMCO to sell $880mln stake in Daewoo Intl

SEOUL, Sept 18 (Reuters) - Korea Asset Management Corp (KAMCO) said on Thursday it was looking to sell its 35.5 percent stake in trading house and resources developer Daewoo International, worth about $880 million, as early as next year.

KAMCO, South Korea's government debt clearer, also said in a report to the parliament that it planned to sell a 9.9 percent stake in unlisted Kyobo Life Insurance Co, in line with the insurer's expected initial public offering.

KAMCO's stake in Daewoo International (047050.KS) is valued at 981 billion won ($879.5 million) at the current market price.

Kyobo Life, the country's No. 3 life insurer, is expected to go public after long-awaited regulation changes last year that allowed life insurers to stage IPOs. But Kyobo has said an immediate listing is unlikely in the current turbulent financial markets.

Daewoo International also owns 24 percent of Kyobo Life and the stake will be sold when KAMCO offloads its own stockholdings, KAMCO said.

At 0204 GMT, Daewoo International shares were up 0.69 percent at 29,250 won, outperforming the wider market's 2.53 percent loss. ($1=1115.4 Won) (Reporting by Rhee So-eui; editing by Jonathan Hopfner)